The 2017 ArsiesWhich metal band will reign supreme?http://2017.thearsies.com/
Sun, 31 Dec 2017 11:58:05 -0800Copyright (C) 2009-2018 Arsenio Santosen-us60http://2017.thearsies.com/32This final Arsies battle is a classic case of two artists who have previous come perilously close to winning it all. And one of these great contenders will have to have their almost-but-not-quite streak continue unabated. Them's the breaks. And while both these albums are strange beasts, rare in their fulfillment of my eternal desire for metal artists to push their own boundaries, I have to find a way to pick one over the other.

Do I go for the predictable but consistent option, penalizing uneven experimentalism? Or do I reward the more avant-garde choice, turning my back on meat-and-potatoes metal? I've literally already changed my mind twices while writing this.

What it comes down to, between these two most excellent albums, is any hint of a misstep. With the Anciients, the weak link is Descending, a harmless 3-minute instrumental interlude that's arguably filler. Not too bad. With the Ihsahn, however, it's Til Tor Ulven (Søppensolen), a truly indulgent 9-minute tone poem (or rather, poetry set to tones). There is so much to commend Ihsahn for on Arktis, and if you haven't listened to it by now, you should do that today. Me, I'm going to listen to Voice Of The Void for the rest of the day. Anciients win the Arsies!
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Mon, 13 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/32
http://2017.thearsies.com/31On paper, this sounds like a very difficult decision. How do you choose between an emotive album that is rarely overtly metal and a cerebral album with prog metal tendencies that border on caricature?

That paper couldn't be more wrong. Akróasis is the clear choice, only if you like masturbatory guitarcraft or unapologetic fretless bass (which, in case you had any doubt, I totally do). And it's fun and mean and all, but after a while it starts to come across like the best Rocky Road ice cream you've ever had: how many scoops of this shit can you really eat before you tire of it?

Not so with the Ihsahn masterpiece; Arktis is apparently an album that I could listen to 7 days a week and twice on Sunday.

However, in the context of the Arsies, we'll only need to listen to it once more: in our Final Battle on Monday.
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Fri, 10 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/31
http://2017.thearsies.com/30The Semifinals are here! The top four albums of 2016 have already been determined scientificishally, but only one can be the true champion. Let's get to work.

Now, I'll bet you were thinking, "Of course I already know how today is going down. What else would you expect from an old-school djent fanboy?!" And there's no denying that Meshuggah brings the ferocity with The Violent Sleep Of Reason. But, if we're being honest, it's about a song or two too long, and it's hard to imagine that any of the tracks on here will eventually rise to the level of Bleed or New Millenium Cyanide Christ in the eyes of the band's many fans. The musicianship is mindbendingly awesome, of course, and this album is certainly a culmination of what's come before it.

However:

Not only does Voice Of The Void not wear out its welcome (a staggering feat, considering that it's stonier and eight minutes longer than the Meshuggah), but by easing off the throttle a bit, Anciients manage to give you something extra that Meshuggah never seem to get around to offering: actual emotion. Voice Of The Void is music with depth and gravitas and real thrills. And they have perfected the descent from humble tranquility to blighted havoc, as demonstrated on the instant classic Ibex Eye. When I sit through 68 minutes of Voice Of The Void, my first thought is that I can't wait to hear it again. I simply cannot say the same of The Violent Sleep Of Reason, as much as I fucking love Meshuggah (and y'all know that I do). Bravo to Anciients!

Tomorrow, we close out the Arsies' final week with our penultimate contest: the second Semifinal, between Ihsahn and Anthrax. The winner of that bout will take on Anciients on Monday for all the marbles. You think you know how that will go? Let's find out together.
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Thu, 09 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/30
http://2017.thearsies.com/29So much cruncy, delicious metal today! If you haven't listened to either of these albums yet then, god, Jed, I don't even want to know you. I've been saying all along that the Anthrax is better than is reasonable to expect (confirmed by the fact that I couldn't get Defend Avenge out of my head the other day and wound up playing the riff at band practice; that's not nothing).

Of course, I would also try playing some riffs off of Akróasis... if I was a far better musician than I am. It's been 4 years since Obscura's last album, and in that time, the boys in the band have settled on one performance setting: Jawdropping. Theirs was always a busy, kitchen-sink sort of prog metal (think BTBAM with actual anger issues), but they've since added a patina of heft to everything they touch. The Anthrax is all fun and games, but Obscura ain't playin'. The Germans triumph over Scott Ian and his band of veterans.

And then there were four: the Semis start tomorrow, with our "western division"‡ going to either Anciients or Meshuggah. The winner of that contest will secure the first spot in our Final Contest!

‡ I'm toying with the idea of setting up future tournaments with divisions, like Black, Prog, Thrash, and Djent for example. What do you think of that? Leave a comment and let me know....
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Wed, 08 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/29
http://2017.thearsies.com/28Brütal!

Before I say another word: Painted Wives are awesome. Their music on Obsessed With The End inspires a dark, retro pleasure. It's intoxicating. And like any other intoxicant, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing; in this case, that happens about 3 tracks from the end. Not an overstayed welcome per se, but more of a I-get-it-already feeling. Still, if you haven't heard this music by now, you really should.

Especially since the response from Ihsahn is immediate and devastating. Now, it's not as though Arktis out-metals Obsessed With The End, and in fact it flirts with shedding the genre altogether, if the opening track is any indication, without fully capitulating to outright prog. But the achievements here cannot be overstated: this music is so original, so technical, yet so emotive (you guys, Celestial Violence is the most epic song of the year, no question), that it simply has to be the product of black magic. The album's misfires, charming as they are, would surely be susceptible to a wily competitor, but not today. Painted Wives fall to Ihsahn!

What you have here is a wholly uneven playing field, although it's unclear to me who has the high ground. Norma Jean, never as mathrocky as some of their metalcore compadres, don't try very hard to compete with technical prowess, although you do have some quick flourishes here and there. Instead, they bet it all on mood and emotion. And it really works for them; this is one spooky album. Everything from the pacing of the songs to the Lincolnshire Poacher interlude, combines to evince a feeling of hopeless modern nihilism.

If Norma Jean's imagery tends toward David Fincher, Meshuggah's palette is downright Giger-esque by comparison. The biomechanical perversion that is The Violent Sleep Of Reason is a beautifully confusing experience. It's also a smokescreen, belying the album's true core: a brutal, dynamic, muscular rhythm and groove. Does it resonate like the Norma Jean? Not quite. But it's so good at maintaining its own erratic onslaught, the emotional hollowness is only a fleeting infliction. Meshuggah advances once again, getting ready to stare down Anciients.

It also ends on a troubling note for Yours Truly. Take a peek at today's scorecard, and keep those metrics in mind when you hear what I have to say:

While Textures waste no time on Phenotype, dishing out an album that qualifies both as an emotionally diverse roundup and one of the most massive slabs of heavy of 2016, my first impression was that there's something about it that feels a little too clever for its own good. (The heavy djent leaning is undoubtedly part of it.) But this is a minor nitpick about some frantically uncompromising music.

By comparison, Anciients seem like they've got nothing but time on Voice Of The Void. Their unhurried, meandering style lets them give their songs time to build unwaveringly. That's not to say that there's tong of nuance on this sludgey album. Or so I thought, at first blush.

These are both truly worthy competitors, and it pains me to have to knock one out right now. It was a very near battle (I had to listen to both albums twice today to be certain), but in the end, Anciients have just enough of an advantage to beat out Textures.

Come back on Monday for the last full week of the Arsies, starting with the next Quarterfinals matchup: a fight between Meshuggah and Norma Jean.
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Fri, 03 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/26
http://2017.thearsies.com/25Oh my damn!

GTO win the flip and launch right into Broken Lines. It's fun and bouncy and unusual and interesting. It's also occasionally ballady. Or disco. Or desert rock. If I'm being honestl, it's all over the map. This appetite for diversity is laudable, to be sure. It's also a rough way of building up a head of steam. At least with Dillinger or Mastodon, you know what you're in for (even at DEP's most herky-jerky).

Anthrax aims in the complete opposite direction, seeming to offer no deviations from the required path on For All Kings, beginning instead with one smooth neo-thrash track after another. Such is the potency of their familiar formula that, by the time the band veer off the well-worn path in the album's middle third with tracks like Breathing Lightning and “Suzerain”, you're happy to go along for the ride. For All Kings was always a contender for Feel Good Hit Of 2016, and they muscle their way past Giraffe Tongue Orchestra on their way to the top.

That's it for the Round Of 16! Tomorrow, we start the Quarterfinals with Textures and Anciients duking it out for one of the final four slots. Won't you join us?
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Thu, 02 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/25
http://2017.thearsies.com/24February is upon us, which means we're getting closer to the ultimate battle! Defending champions Revocation win the cointoss, so we start off with Great Is Our Sin. It's a fine album. A fine album. It's got all the impossibly deft shredding we've come to expect from this band, plus the mid-album instrumental, plus the tasty closing cover tune ("Hail Satan")... Revocationism from top to bottom. Do I really need them to break new ground with every album? Generally, no. But that lack of surprise can be a liability, when facing off against an innovative challenger.

Obscura's Akróasis is such a challenger. This album is every bit as blazingly virtuosic and deathy as Great Is Our Sin. But it's also innovative and surprising, in a way that the Revocation isn't. Not every gamble pays off, but as I've said before many times, I always have to give props for a band or artist that aims high.

What an upset! Obscura moves on to the Quarterfinals! Tomorrow, we find out who their opponents will be, as we finish off the Round Of 16. Will it be Anthrax or Giraffe Tongue Orchestra?
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Wed, 01 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/24
http://2017.thearsies.com/23We've got another close contest today! In one corner, the dizzying, self-indulgent, and perversely addictive Terminal Redux. In the other, the guilty pleasure of Obsessed With The End.

Vektor's thrashy brand of prog, so reminiscent of early-days Fates Warning, is a hell of a commitment for both band and listener, but it rewards with a blizzard of riffs, changes, and flourishes, even before the achingly wish-we-were-Floyd finale Recharging The Void.

Painted Wives are far less pretentious in their aims. Their parallel universe Nothingface-meets-Alice-In-Chains sound is so easy to dismiss out of hand, but that's also what's so dogged and indefatigable about this band. What works about Obsessed With The End is just how unflinchingly yet bizarrely self-consistent it is. No matter what kind of full-stop changeups they throw at you, they find ways to make it all feel preordained instead of arbitrary. This is a quietly subversive album, full of rewards aplenty if you exhibit the required perseverance.

Once again, Painted Wives ekes out a victory over the much-lauded Vektor. They'll take on Ihsahn next week in the Quarterfinals. Meanwhile, tomorrow's bout promises a serious facemelting, as Obscura and Revocation throw down.
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Tue, 31 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/23
http://2017.thearsies.com/22Week Four starts with Ihsahn's ineffable Arktis, and with it the bar is set very, very high. The emotions here range from quirky and clever to utterly epic, the musicianship and production fairly flawless. There are some missteps here, but even when not on sure footing, you've gotta give props to Ihsahn to taking huge swings with this, perhaps the most truly progressive metal album of 2016. Don't get me wrong; the Oranssi Pazuzu is hella compelling. Värähtelijä is like my favorite parts of doom, drone, and noise blended together. It's not always pretty, but these ponderous tracks never fail to enthrall. This album got some notice this year, but not as much as it deserves. Alas, OP were just outmaneuvered today by the more ambitious work on Arktis.

Tomorrow, Painted Wives and Vektor compete for the chance to derail Ihsahn's journey toward the center.
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Mon, 30 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/22
http://2017.thearsies.com/21Today is a battle of heartstrings. Gorguts' Pleiades Dust plays to one's sense of fear, specifically of The Other. Their formula of alien tech death precision has been steadily improving over the years, and on this EP it's honest to its finest point yet. But while Norma Jean's Polar Similar tucks in closer to familiar territory with all the accuracy of a Scud, it inflicts its heavy damage in the name of ruination, decay, and all things gone wrong. Norma Jean are just relentlessly gutwrenching here, with a veracity that Gorguts can't touch. Norma Jean advances to the Quarterfinals. But do they have what it takes to dethrone Meshuggah? Come back next week, for the second half of the Round Of 16, starting with two unusual but excellent albums from Ihsahn and Oranssi Pazuzu.
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Fri, 27 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/21
http://2017.thearsies.com/20You know, I almost just typed "I DO WHAT I WANT!" and left it at that for today's commentary... but listening to Retrogore anew, I'm forced to give Aborted more respect than that. Subtle or not, they've once again concocted a potent witches' brew. It's expert-level mayhem, fast-paced and merciless. Catchy? Not really. Innovative? Hardly. Effective? You betcha.

It's a damned shame, therefore, that they had to go up against Meshuggah, whose The Violent Sleep Of Reason is not precisely as ferocious, but far more devious in its subversions. Tomas Haake and Fredrik Thordendal stand out here on drums and leads respectively, but the whole band is in top form with this slab of deathjazz that reinvents their own older forms into something fresh and stunning. Their cunning craft handily takes the day, and moves Meshuggah into the Quarterfinals!

Anciients go first with Voice Of The Void, and once again remind me how magical their chameleonlike nature really is. The more I listen to it, the more familiar callbacks to other bands I can recognize... and yet the less that those comparisons detract from the album's intrinsic awesomeness. On the other hand, Entheos' The Infinite Nothing is bewildering in its intricacy, its alien soundscape. And it's definitely the more shredded of the two choices today. It's also arguably the one with less heart.

Both releases are excellent, and if you haven't heard them by now, you're missing two of the albums that surprised and delighted me most in 2016. Alas, two bands enter, one band leaves. And although Voice Of The Void is almost twice as long as The Infinite Nothing, Anciients deliver the more rewarding performance. Just barely.

Anciients will come back next week in the first Quarterfinal match, against Textures. Tomorrow: Meshuggah and Aborted do their respective things.
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Wed, 25 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/19
http://2017.thearsies.com/18We've just past the halfway mark for the entire tournament, and today we start the Rounds Of 16. Testament's cointoss means they get us off to a thrashy start. And, the more times I hear Brotherhood Of The Snake, the more I can appreciate how it pulls the best parts of their last half dozen albums. There's not much innovation here, but so what? This rocks! Also, the first half of the album? Solid gold. But the back half is hokey and distracting, and undoes a lot of the good that the first half delivers.

Phenotype doesn't suffer from that same weakness. It's consistently surprising, varied, and fucking heavy. It also strives for, and achieves, a wider emotional palette. Unrelenting from start to finish, Textures outgun and outexecute Testament, and proceed to the Quarterfinals!

Tomorrow, Entheos and Anciients grapple each other on the path to metal supremacy.
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Tue, 24 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/18
http://2017.thearsies.com/17This, our final battle in the Round Of 32, is a classic clash between something old and something new: the eleventh album from Gothenburg sweethearts Dark Tranquility versus the debut from Ben Weinman's supergroup Girrafe Tongue Orchestra.

DT's Atoma starts off without preamble or straying far from their winning formula. Tight production, flawless musicianship, and a cloudy atmosphere have ever been hallmarks of the band's sound, and all three are in full effect on this album. This has always been at the core of DT's strengths, but it's also one of their weaknesses; theirs is a career-spanning consistency that at times borders on monotony. That's not to say that Atoma lacks variation; songs like the title track and Force Of Hand demonstrate modest ambitions for musical evolution and experimentation. But those moments are captivating exceptions that prove the rule, and the homogeneity of Atoma makes its 49 minutes a bit of a slog.

GTO's Broken Lines exploits that weakness uniquely; this debut from alumni of DEP, Mastodon, AIC, and The Mars Volta has no baggage to draw from, and yet still benefits from the myopic expectations that those bands engender. Put another way: by focusing on combining those different elements in various ways, GTO all but guarantee a novel and interesting sound. This is more a remix of a parlor trick than any kind of breaking of new ground, but it works often enough to be entertaining. William DuVall deserves special props for effectively stepping away from his Layne Staley-channelling day job, adding a level of cohesion that is otherwise hard to find. Broken Lines nudges out Atoma by being more unpredictable and worthy of note this year, and heads off to the next round, where they'll battle with Anthrax.

We've culled our thirty-two contestants down to sixteen. Tomorrow, the next round of competition begins, with Textures and Testament. Innnnteresting.
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Mon, 23 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/17
http://2017.thearsies.com/16I'll be very honest with you: sometimes, I walk into these skirmishes with a preordained favorite, an album that I'm rooting for more than usual. But I am honorbound in all cases to listen to both contestants, and you'd be surprised how often the listening shows me how wrong my prejudices may have been.

Such is the case today. There are so many reasons to want to give the nod to DEP. For one thing, Disassociation is (purportedly) the band's farewell album; having already won the tournament in 2014 with One Of Us Is The Killer, they are wisely quitting while they're on top. Also, the 2014 Final pitted them against Revocation, and it's hard to resist the prospect of a rematch of that battle (as DEP's win today would set up in two weeks).

But that's a whole lot of preamble that doesn't talk about the music itself. Anthrax, a band who have made a career of polevaulting over underestimated expectations (and the winners of today's cointoss), rush out of the gate with the stunningly fresh and energetic For All Kings. This is a slippery album, with material that sounds at times like it'd fit in with the rest of Worship Music, Stomp 442, and Persistence... but without suffering a lack of cohesion. The band, consisting now of the classic Persistence lineup (minus watchmaker Dan Spitz), sound as tight as ever, and expertly spin up both classic thrash and newer forms of menace. But most of all, For All Kings is just fun to headbang to.

By comparison, DEP's Disassociation hits all the same spastic marks that its winning predecessor did, but there's something about the album that feels belabored or mired in an uncharacteristic torpor. The careful balancing act between indulgence and resonance found on One Of Us Is The Killer has been blown out, and while there's plenty of examples of jawdropping originality (including that masterful Low Feels Blvd), the album just as frequently carries an air of going through the motions. Much as I hate to say it, Anthrax's For All Kings is the victor today, and will take on Revocation in a few weeks.

That's it for this week! Monday, we end the first round of competition with Ben Weinman's other project Giraffe Tongue Orchestra against Dark Tranquility!
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Fri, 20 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/16
http://2017.thearsies.com/15You guys: Revocation are fuckin' ridiculous.

Winning today's coin toss, they get us started with their sixth album, Great Is Our Sin. Right away, it's clear that the boys from Boston have been working on locking down their formula: uncompromising nouveau-thrash riffs delivered with surgically precise musicianship. So what if the songs here lean ever-so-slightly toward either forgettability or easy familiarity. What Revocation have achieved here, once again, sets the bar for other musicians for whom riffing and shredding are still the bottom line (and sets it high). The closing Slayer cover is almost certainly a bribe for the judges, and it works.

I should also mention that Agoraphobic Nosebleed's three-song EP Arc is not to be underestimated. This nasty paean to illness, this cross between old Soundgarden, Clutch, and Deafheaven, is without question the heavier and more surprising of the two contestants today. I'm definitely feeling ANb more, in terms of emotional authenticity. It's not for nothing that they can earn as much favor in 27 minutes as Revocation does in almost twice that length. And yet, Great Is Our Sin's kitchen-sink approach nudges it ahead of Arc.

So, Revocation will go up against Obscura in two weeks. Meanwhile, tomorrow we end Week Three with an epic New York grudge match, between Anthrax and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
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Thu, 19 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/15
http://2017.thearsies.com/14If you had proposed this matchup a year or two ago, I would not have believed that this outcome was possible. The last time we heard from Obscura, it was a brief first-round skirmish back in 2013. Four years later, they've returned with Akróasis, and with it a more energized and imaginative sonic vocabulary. Superficially, they haven't changed at all, wielding a Cynic-like tech death with all the trimmings: ridiculous guitar wankery, inhuman drumming, prominent fretless bass... even vocals alternating between vocoder and Cookie Monster. But what is new is the songwriting. It's like the band wanted to go "back to basics" (remember when Metallica said that repeatedly while doing press for The Black Album?), only Obscura's basic building blocks are blast beats, counterpoint, and arpeggios.

You know who else knows about arpeggios? Protest The Hero, natch... and Pacific Myth has plenty of the band's trademark frantic virtuosity. There's also an attempt here to widen their songwriting ambitions here, without straying too far from their bread and butter: dextrous instrumental antics with rhythms as smooth as a wooden rollercoaster. But while this approach has served PTH well in the past, this iteration feels a little cramped and perfunctory. That's not simply a result of comparison to Obscura's more expansive approach -- I'd felt the same "Is that it?" feeling with my first listen of Pacific Myth -- but Akróasis certainly doesn't make it easier by being so masterful in its own right.

And so, Protest The Hero are felled by Obscura, who move on to the Round Of 16 on February 1st. They'll be up against either Agoraphobic Nosebleed or Revocation; tune in tomorrow, to find out which!
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Wed, 18 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/14
http://2017.thearsies.com/13I'll have you know, I spent a lot of time practicing how to naturally pronounce and spell "Kvelertak." Why? Because Nattesferd is good. Damned good. Those crazy Norwegians seem to have hit upon the perfect blend of hooky, nostalgically hip-shakin' black metal, like a fusion between Wolfmother and Agalloch. Also, amazingly, this is the second album in this year's Arsies to contain a song titled 1985 for some reason. Long story short: this album is just undeniably fun.

What it isn't, however, is very overtly metal... a weakness that glares as soon as Vektor's Terminal Redux gets started. This is some high-energy, progressive thrash that pulls out all the stops, somewhere between Revocation and older Voivod. It feels fresh and exciting and fascinating, even with its indulgences and excesses (73 minutes!). And with each arpeggiated guitar lick or busy drum fill, the Kvelertak gets left further and further in the dust.

Tomorrow, Obscura and Protest The Hero vie for our affections.
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Tue, 17 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/13
http://2017.thearsies.com/12Week Three starts now, with Toothgrinder (who won the coin toss). Nocturnal Masquerade is a quirky, refreshing collection of progressive yet listenable tech death tunes. As the album unfolds, there's a steady and enjoyable interplay between meaty metal and accessible melody, a cadence that's sustained throughout the whole album. There's also great musicianship throughout. And yet, there's something about the music here that's a little torturous and hard to get behind.

On the other hand, Painted Wives' Obsessed With The End sounds at first blush to be a retread of a variety of bygone sounds; if you miss the velvety nasal vocal stylings of Layne Staley, this is certainly the album for you. But while that remains true, there's also a subversively clever strain here that endures once you get past the superficial reminiscence. This album has a moody and somber heart, but it's also accessible and enthralling, with equally strong musicianship and songwriting.

Both albums are catchy, rockin', and flawed. But there's a slightly elevated trajectory, a more welcome memorability, and a rewarding replayability to Obsessed With The End, that gives it a hint of an edge over Nocturnal Masquerade. It wasn't easy, but Painted Wives wins the battle by a nose.

Tomorrow, Vektor and Kvelertak compete on the path to metal glory!
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Mon, 16 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/12
http://2017.thearsies.com/11Oh man, this is one tough call today, as two bands step up to the battleground with very different interpretations of the word "progressive."

Haken win the cointoss, and at first blush Affinity should easily win my heart. How could it not, ceding as much metal ground as it does to faithful callbacks to mid-era prog and 80s synth rock, and reverberating with notes from Porcupine Tree, Karnivool, Asia, King Crimson, and Animals As Leaders? Do these guys know how to play to the judge or what! Sounds like a clear winner, right?

Well... Oranssi Vazuzu's Värähtelijä is not so easily dismissed. OV, originating as they did from a more traditional Scandinavian black metal milieu, have largely stepped out that constricting box. There's still a chilly forest's air lingering about this album, but much more prominent here are avant-garde strands of contemplative world music and dark trance; I'll just call out Lahja as one example, but it's by no means exhaustively representative of all the twists to be found. OV claim some of the same touchstones as Haken, but always from a different direction; their King Crimsom references aren't from Discipline, but rather Starless and Bible Black, their 80s nods to John Carpenter instead of The Buggles.

The scorecard is no help here (something that I suspect will happen more and more as the contest progresses). Both albums are fascinating, rewarding on multiple listens, and aspire to something greater than the band's respective backgrounds would have one believe. Affinity is hookier and more feel-good than Värähtelijä, but that's not necessarily a good or bad thing. However, Värähtelijä is less cohesive and more darkly fragmented than Affinity, which miraculously comes across as an asset, like a badly broken bone left to heal grotesquely on its own. It's this point of differentiation that gives OV the advantage over Haken, and they take the day. How will they fare against also-experimental Ihsahn on January 30th? Your guess is as good as mine.

That's it for Week 2 of the Arsies! Come back on Monday, when we'll answer the age old question: how do Painted Wives deal with Toothgrinder?
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Fri, 13 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/11
http://2017.thearsies.com/10Round 1.5 commences with a bit of a predicament: how do you compare two albums that go in utterly opposite directions?

Take Arktis, the latest album from Ihsahn, for example. The DNA common to all of his latter-day work (and to Leprous, if I'm being honest) is still easy to discern, but this album is also half-submerged in 80s prog proclivities, without sounding like a retread. The resulting mood is one of restless ambition, as it pulls from many different influences and still managing to feel cohesive. And yet, calling this a (black) metal album is a bit like swirling vermouth in a glass, dumping it out, refilling with gin, and calling it a martini. (Still tasty, tho.)

Magrudergrind's II responds with a 12-song (23-minute) watery dump of nasty grindcore goodness. There is no subtlety, no surprise, just skanky slam-fodder from start to finish. That makes for a more effective metal album in general, but certainly lacks the differentiable elements one looks for in a contest. What it does, it does very well... but as soon as it's done, it's gone. Arktis is a superior album, and so takes the round from Magrudergrind (who are probably too busy roiling the pit to even notice)... but is it metal enough to go farther in the Arsies? We'll see soon enough.

We end the week (Friday the 13th!) with Haken and Oranssi Pazuzu.
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Thu, 12 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/10
http://2017.thearsies.com/9Longtime fans of the Arsies will notes that EPs of sufficient length are not necessarily ruled out of consideration, and in years past we've had more than one shorter release punch above their weight (BTBAM's 2011 EP made it all the way to the Quarterfinals)!

And so we find Gorguts, the technodeath band whose predominant power move is to exhaust the eardrums, challenging Fates Warning (a band known for epicly long songs) with a single track... 33 minutes in length, seven conjoined movements. (If you're listening along, get comfy.) Pleiades' Dust delivers more of Gorguts' inimitable and inimical aural corruption, for good and for ill; I don't think anyone can accuse this band of being overproduced, and this EP is as much a challenge to you as it is to any other band. But it is a clear attempt by Gorguts to be a refinement of all they've done before, and in this effort it succeeds. It's as exotic and unusual as its subject matter (the rise and fall of an intellectual Mecca of the Islamic Golden Age), and yet manages to sound as fresh as it is harrowing.

That's not to say that Theories Of Flight, Fates Warning's twelfth studio album, is unworthy. Truth be told, it's probably the most accessible album of their career... which is not to say it's watered down or unprogressive. Rather, their sound has grown to encompass elements of genres that had to have been influenced in no small part by early-90s prog (I can literally hear the partially-digested Porcupine Tree in SOS). The band's trademark time signature ridiculousness still exists, so they've got that going for them as well. But, for every nod to power metal or radio friendliness that Fates works into their sound, Gorguts has a move in the opposite direction: nastier guitar solos, grosser work from the rhythm section, and lyrics about siege and destruction instead of wistful alienation. Believe it or not, Gorguts stomps down Fates Warning today with a more damning piece of modern prog metal. I did not see that coming. Let's see how they do against Norma Jean in a few weeks.

And hey, whaddya know: we're halfway through the First Round! Join us tomorrow as we start the second half, with Ihsahn and Magrudergrind.
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Wed, 11 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/9
http://2017.thearsies.com/8Holy crap! Our first upset! I would have sworn that the Amon Amarth was a lock today, as they're the only "trüe" metal act competing in this battle.

But the interesting thing is that, even without the superficial trappings that make Jomsviking so obviously metal (it says "viking" right in the title, y'all), Polar Similar has got so much more attitude and swagger. Norma Jean's post-metal flavor has mutated into a Tool-meets-Thrice-meets-a-hot-poker-to-the-face amalgam, and that sound resonates with its unbridled emotionality. There's something familiar here, but not too familiar. The album's pacing fits the music's brooding tone, too: unhurried, but not overlong, and interesting throughout.

If only I could say the same for the latest Amon Amarth. There's nothing horrible about Jomsviking, other than the vitality present in the band's last few albums seems diminshed here. This is most evident in Johan Hegg's vocals from the start, but there's also a tiredness in the music. I'm not generally one to penalize a band for dialing down the BPMs, as seems to have been AA's plan on this album, and when it works (notably on “Raise Your Horns”), it's satisfying. Alas, there are too many misses and missteps here to keep the blood at a consistent boil, a weakness that ultimately rules Amon Amarth out of the competition far earlier than I'd predicted. Congrats to Norma Jean!

Tomorrow we'll listen to a nasty EP from Gorguts and the latest album from Fates Warning (the first full-on metal band I ever really listened to). Ahh, memories.
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Tue, 10 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/8
http://2017.thearsies.com/7Welcome back, metalheads! We rejoin the action with a particularly unsubtle slamfest, so much so that I'm going to forego the usual multi-paragraph format and tell it to you straight: both Death Angel's The Evil Divide and Aborted's Retrogore don't even bother trying to move the Innovation needle. You get a generous helping of Bay Area thrash in the former, and a mighty slab of technical death metal in the latter. But while the former is arguably more conventionally musical, the latter is more convincing and mean and interesting. Aborted wins the round by a nose! They have the temerity to go up against Meshuggah on January 26th!

Tomorrow should be interesting: it's Norma Jean up against Amon Amarth.
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Mon, 09 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/7
http://2017.thearsies.com/6This is the kind of first-round battle that I loathe: two very worthy competitors enter the arena, but only one can leave.

Julie Christmas wins the cointoss for herself and Cult Of Luna, and so we start the day with the gloomy post-metal masterpiece Mariner. Only time will tell, but it seems almost certain that this collection of moody epics will end up being compared favorably to Isis' Wavering Radiant or The Ocean's Pelagial. Julie Christmas' vocals add just enough melody to keep aloft the rest of the plodding music, striving to drown in its own brooding heaviness. About the only complaint I could make about Mariner, in fact, is that there's something about the songs that make them want to fade into the background.

Not so the music of Meshuggah's latest release The Violent Sleep Of Reason. Even at its most subtle, this sound demands your focus and attention. And that's not just due to the math-quiz quality of the band's pioneering riffinometry; these musicians cram more detail and variation into virtually every song than seems possible. One of the most fascinating things about TVSOR is how it feels like a live in-studio improv jam exploration of the band's last five albums. That also leads to my main complaint about the album: there's an undeniable been-there-heard-that quality to the material that rises like an aftertaste. Maybe that's why the album also feels a little overlong, or at least ends irresolutely.

Ultimately, this battle comes down to forcefulness and conviction. Mariner is truly seductive in its lachrymose excellence, but The Violent Sleep Of Reason is more cocksure, more dominant, heavier, and ultimately Moar Metal. Meshuggah triumphs over Cult Of Luna and Julie Christmas... but this is far from a one-sided trouncing. How will the godfathers of djent fare in their next matchup at the end of the month? I really don't know for sure.

Our first week of metal mayhem has drawn to a close. Join us on Monday, when Aborted and Death Angel go mano a mano. You'll pay for the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!
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Fri, 06 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/6
http://2017.thearsies.com/5Anciients' sophomore album Voice Of The Void starts our metal day heroically. From the onset, it becomes clear that the band have mastered the arcane art of creating longish tracks of stoney metal while never overstaying their welcome. In fact, if there's one big difference between this music and that of their debut album, it's the evident effort that Anciients put into establishing more of their own unique identity without completely ditching the inevitable comparisons to Mastodon or Tool. Often, forced evolution of a band's music can trip them up, but Anciients deftly (yet subtly) manage this work without misstep, and turn in a second album that's a clear improvement over their already acclaimed debut (a rare feat indeed).

Destrage does not escape the same trap so easily on their fourth full-length, A Means To No End. The band's trademark freneticism is still here, as it was on their stunning breakout predecessor Are You Kidding Me? No.. But here it's dialed back an iota, likely by way of reaching for a more mature and ambitious scope. This is a difficult balancing act to pull off, the tradeoff between ridiculous ridiculously showy musicianship and attention to songcraft, but while it's certainly laudable, there's something in these attempts that falls a little flat, especially after the glaringly untortured directness of their foes. Scusa, Destrage, but you've been eliminated in the first round. Anciients wins, and moves on to battle Entheos in three weeks!

Abbath's eponymous debut after Abbath Doom Occulta's departure from Immortal is undeniably winsome. Its black metal, leavened with equal parts Rigor Mortis and Black Sabbath, is dynamic and driving, and the album's 48 minutes goes by almost too quickly (something I rarely say about any albums in this genre). Abbath is likely my favorite black metal album of the last two years, and it would take something remarkable to top it.

Which is exactly the response from Entheos, a djent-informed progdeath supergroup featuring former members of Animosity (also by way of Animals As Leaders and The Faceless). The music on their debut album The Infinite Nothing sounds like a mixture of all those bands... plus a dozen others. It's a dizzying array of influences at first blush, but listen to the opening track a few times, and you start to realize that the music isn't crowded, just meticulously alien. Not the singular vision that you often get with a band helmed by one or two songwriters, but a quartet of top-tier musicians trusting each other to swing for any fences they individually and/or collectively choose. This is a fascinating album, and while Abbath are great, Entheos wipe the floor with them.

Tomorrow, we'll find out who Entheos' next challengers will be: Anciients or Destrage.
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Wed, 04 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/4
http://2017.thearsies.com/3We've got a tough matchup today, with two very different approaches on display. ETID win the cointoss, so we start with them.

Low Teens gives you everything that you'd expect from an album from Every Time I Die: hectic energy, reckless aggression, and a clever self-awareness. They've traded some of their angst for more emotional authenticity... a gambit with mixed results. But their playing and energy really make this an enjoyable album. Nothing here really sticks out as a must-listen, though, so if the album has a fatal flaw, it's its lack of memorability, which is a weird thing to say about an album coming from a band that has somewhat defined themselves as iconoclastic.

Testament return fire with arguably their most enjoyable album in many years, Brotherhood Of The Snake. This neoclassical thrash album is every bit as aggressive and tight as Low Teens. And songs like the opening title track are every bit as vital and landmark as anything the band has previously done in their long and storied career. Where the band trip themselves up, however, is in the final third of the album... a classic case of album filler, if ever I heard one.

The scorecard alone cannot settle the dispute, as the numbers tell two slightly different but similarly weighted stories. Ultimately, it comes down to which album's weakness is less forgiveable. In this case, three very weak tracks are easier to deal with (or skip altogether) than an album's worth of missing the mark ever-so-slightly.

ETID are defeated by the mighty Testament, who will return in three weeks to face Textures! Tune in tomorrow, when we watch Entheos and Abbath square off.
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Tue, 03 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/3
http://2017.thearsies.com/2The first cointoss of the year goes to Textures, who come out of the gate swinging with their ferocious Phenotype, the first of two albums they recorded simultaneously, and their first album in 5 years since their last successful Arsies contender. This one feels very much cut of the same complex cloth as its predecessor... a strong Arsies strategy, as they managed to make it into the Semifinals last time with that playbook. Textures manages to up their aggression a skosh while still retaining their frenetic post-djent progressivism.

Their challengers today, Primitive Weapons, choose a different tactic with their sophomore album The Future Of Death. This album, while not quite progressive, is every bit as clever (albeit in service of a darker sound). Each individual band member's musicality stands out as a bold component of the overall sound, which might make a lesser band lack coherence. But here, the fusion is compelling.

As you can see from our new scorecard, while both albums are well-matched in a lot of ways, Phenotype keeps its steam a bit better, is more technical, and more memorable. The first win goes to Textures!

Tomorrow: Buffalo mavericks ETID go up against Bay Area legends Testament.
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Mon, 02 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/2
http://2017.thearsies.com/1What a brutal year, my friends. We lost Bowie. We lost Prince. We lost Emerson and Lake. But maybe... just maybe.. it was also a brütal year, if you catch my meaning. Behold! The Eighth Annual Arsies are finally here!

If you're new to the Arsies, the house rules are simple. Arranged around the bracket are the best of the best, the most promising metal albums released over the past 12 months. (Only entirely new music releases, mind you -- no live albums, no splits, no remixes -- and albums at least 20 minutes in length, if you please.) Over the course of the next six weeks, those albums will face off in daily battle. During each match, we'll listen to those two albums, to determine which is finer. We'll refine our judgment incrementally, using the vaunted single elimination tournament format, until we arrive at an ultimate winner. Also, while you'll read many instances of us picking apart an album throughout this tournament, keep in mind that these are relative demerits, and that every album here is justifiably praiseworthy, and belongs in this catalog of excellence.

Objectively and scientifically speaking, the pickins were slim in 2016. (You'll find a playlist of all the albums we pored over in 2016 on Spotify.) Notable among the detritus: albums from previous winners which often fell shorter than I would have thought (I'm looking at you, Gojira, BABYMETAL, Periphery, Sumac, and Inter Arma.) But even with fewer albums to review, we've got more than enough quality metal for the tournament. (We've also created a separate playlist that only contains the 32 finalists, and we'll be posting a playlist for each contest, so you can listen along and judge for yourself.)

And this year, we're going to try something new. Instead of solely arbitrating the day's battle subjectively, we'll also score the albums using several qualitative criteria (replayability, shredding ability, innovation, production values, etc.); once those scores are tabulated, we should have a more quantitative understanding of the day's skirmish. Theoretically.

Will this new approach work? We'll start to find out bright and early on Monday, January 2nd, with our first match: Textures versus Primitive Weapons!
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Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 -0800http://2017.thearsies.com/1